Darktrace AI’s Antigena helps stop ransomware attack at Dordogne GHT
Ryuk had previously overthrown city councils and attacked over 200 US hospitals in 2021

French hospital group Dordogne Groupements Hospitaliers de Territoire (Dordogne GHT) has successfully contained and stopped a ransomware attack utilizing Darktrace AI’s autonomous response technology Antigena.
In 2021, Dordogne GHT installed Darktrace's artificial intelligence (AI)-based detect, respond technologies to guard against threats in all 11 of its hospitals, particularly for medical and corporate devices pertaining to accident and emergency departments.
The system was soon put to test when Dordogne GHT encountered a notorious ransomware strain called Ryuk, which targets critical public sectors organizations worldwide.
Russian cybercriminal group Wizard Spider has been attributed to creating the ransomware. Ryuk essentially combines advanced encryption techniques before requesting a high ransom for a private decryption key. Ryuk is also one of the first ransomware strains to encrypt network drives and resources.
Darktrace AI was alerted to the first signs of the attack via some basic .dat files being downloaded onto one of the hospital’s devices through an unknown IP address. Using AI, Darktrace’s Antigena thwarted the breach, saving medical devices from being corrupted.
"At a time when national cybersecurity agencies are urging organizations to be hyper-vigilant and lock down their systems, we can be in little doubt that defenders of healthcare systems will be working to keep the bad guys out," commented Justin Fier, VP of tactical risk and response at Darktrace.
"Autonomous response technology that uplifts human security teams by allowing them to make strategic decisions while the AI stops the attack before it causes disruption is critical in defending organizations vital to everyday life," added Fier.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
-
Prolific ransomware operator added to Europe’s Most Wanted list as US dangles $10 million reward
News The US Department of Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Volodymyr Viktorovych Tymoshchuk, an alleged ransomware criminal.
-
Jaguar Land Rover “did the right thing” shutting down systems to thwart cyber attack
News The attack on Jaguar Land Rover highlights the growing attractiveness of the automotive sector
-
Ransomware attack on IT supplier disrupts hundreds of Swedish municipalities
News The attack on IT systems supplier Miljödata has impacted public sector services across the country
-
A notorious hacker group is ramping up cloud-based ransomware attacks
News The Storm-0501 threat group is refining its tactics, according to Microsoft, shifting away from traditional endpoint-based attacks and toward cloud-based ransomware.
-
Security researchers have just identified what could be the first ‘AI-powered’ ransomware strain – and it uses OpenAI’s gpt-oss-20b model
News Using OpenAI's gpt-oss:20b model, ‘PromptLock’ generates malicious Lua scripts via the Ollama API.
-
Data I/O shuts down systems in wake of ransomware attack
News Regulatory filings by Data I/O suggest the costs of dealing with the attack could be significant
-
Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarter
News Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
-
BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting – but members have already formed a new group
News The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos